Carlos Ghosn’s arrest is more about Japanese criminal justice than corporate governancehttps://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/ ... overnance/The below has been pointed out before although it hadn't occurred to me until now that the statement of compensation would be in Japanese.

The grounds for arresting Ghosn and his conveniently foreign fellow board member Greg Kelly may likely seem ridiculous. How could the pair file an untrue statement of compensation (in Japanese!) in spite of all the financial controls, audit trails and other mechanisms public companies have in place to ensure accuracy in their public reporting, without the acquiescence and cooperation of Nissan management? Granted, both men were representative directors meaning they had both the power to do so and symbolic responsibility for potentially all acts of the company in theory. In practice, however, it is an absurd proposition.

^^^I have a guess as to what you're implying. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Nissan, Tokyo prosecutors, et al. are particularly forthcoming about the facts. There are just bits and pieces leaking (?) out w/all sorts of possible allegations.

We know Ghosn and Kelly are in jail and that their stay there has been extended. From what https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/ ... overnance/ and some other stories have mentioned, it doesn't sound pleasant for someone being held in custody, esp. if you can't have your lawyers present during questioning.

The above piece asserts

Although now detained, the suspect is not yet a defendant: They have not yet been prosecuted for anything, not even the crime for which they were arrested. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, detention is essentially an investigative tool used to interrogate suspects and develop evidence. Suspects in detention have a constitutional right to counsel but not to have a lawyer present during questioning. In fact, the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers prosecutors to subordinate a suspect’s access to their lawyer to the needs of the prosecutor’s investigation.

It sounds like Japan has something similar to our 5th amendment (article 38?) but I know nothing about theirs, the implications, when it's valid or not, etc.

The resulting "Ghosn Shock," as it's being referred to in the Japanese media, is wrapped in mystery. And like any good conspiracy theory, one explanation churns up new questions.

One example: If Ghosn indeed has been improperly reporting compensation to the tune of ¥9 billion ($80 million) over eight years starting in 2009, why did the matter surface only this year?

Some are wondering how that large discrepancy could have gone unnoticed, since Nissan Motor Co. is one of the bluest of Japanese blue-chips. It is run by some of the world's biggest business brains and vetted by an army of auditors.

Another question from some observers: Why isn't Nissan being more public with details of Ghosn's alleged crimes? Even Masuko conceded that Mitsubishi's board summarily ousted Ghosn as chairman, even though the board's Nissan-appointed directors presented scant particulars of the case against him....Another possible explanation for the surprise move against Ghosn: This year, for the first time, Japan adopted a criminal plea bargaining system. That new prosecution tool could have provided the perfect cover for someone to air Nissan's dirty laundry. And Tokyo's notoriously zealous prosecutors were happy to make Ghosn a shining example of the new rules in action.

Prosecutors are public officials who move to a new posting every two or three years, and while high-profile convictions help a career, the greatest imperative is to avoid mistakes — such as an embarrassing acquittal. Unlike the high conviction rate at trial, the conviction rate following arrest is just 40 per cent, reflecting the large number of cases dropped along the way.

Prosecutors are also planning to re-arrest Ghosn on new charges not yet made public, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. In the first sign of blowback from the scandal for Nissan Motor Co., the carmaker is also set to be indicted for breaching Japan’s financial instruments and exchange act by making false statements on securities reports, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Prosecutors interrogate for hours at a time, urging him to confess his crimes.

The purpose of this harsh approach is to break a suspect down, to force a confession out of him. The centerpiece of most Japanese criminal trials is not the introduction of evidence or the examination of witnesses; it’s the confession by the accused. As a result, when Japanese prosecutors take a case to trial, they win 99 percent of the time, a success rate that ranks with Russia and China.

Prosecutors interrogate for hours at a time, urging him to confess his crimes.

The purpose of this harsh approach is to break a suspect down, to force a confession out of him. The centerpiece of most Japanese criminal trials is not the introduction of evidence or the examination of witnesses; it’s the confession by the accused. As a result, when Japanese prosecutors take a case to trial, they win 99 percent of the time, a success rate that ranks with Russia and China.

Sounds like Robert Mueller.

There's a reason they're called shithole countries.

Which Japan isn't. US conviction rate is pretty high, as most cases are plea bargained, about 95%. Can be very coercive, unless you are wealthy.

It is tricky to copy a Wall Street Journal article before the paywall kicks in but here it is with some possible typos:

Carlos Ghosn Planned to Replace NissanCEO Before His ArrestTOKYO— Nissan Motor Co.’s Carlos Ghosn was planning to replace Nissan ChiefExecutive Hiroto Saikawa before the plan was derailed by Mr. Ghosn’s arrest in Tokyo lastmonth, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Word of the Ghosn plan adds a new twist to the drama inside Nissan this year. Mr. Saikawa hassaid the company was investigating possible misuse of corporate assets and other allegedwrongdoing by Mr. Ghosn for months this year and was supplying information to Tokyoprosecutors.While that internal investigation was going on, Mr. Ghosn was growing increasinglydissatisfied with Mr. Saikawa’s handling of business problems at Nissan including a slowdownin U.S. sales and repeated quality issues in Japan, say people familiar with the matter.Mr. Ghosn had expressed a desire for months to shake up the senior management ranks atNissan and made known to some executives his plan to replace Mr.Saikawa, said peoplefamiliar with the plan. One of the people said Mr. Ghosn told associates he wanted toput Mr. Saikawa’s ouster to a vote at a Nissan board meeting set for late November.Instead the board voted unanimously on Nov. 22 to oust Mr. Ghosn as chairman after hearingthe results of Nissan’s investigation into his alleged financial misdeeds.Mr. Saikawa couldn’t be reached for comment. It isn’t known whether he was aware of Mr.Ghosn’s plans for a management shake-up or whether the internal Nissan drama was connectedto the timing of the arrest.He had wanted to carry out his plan to oust Hiroto Saikawa at a board meeting in NovemberNissan Motor’s board voted to remove Carlos Ghosn as chairman days after his arrestTokyo prosecutors arrested Mr. Ghosn, one of the global auto industry’s best-known executives,on Nov. 19 after boarding his jet when it arrived in Tokyo. Prosecutors said he was suspected ofunderreporting his compensation on Nissan’s financial reports for the five fiscal years throughMarch 2015.Mr. Ghosn hasn’t been charged with any crime. He denies wrongdoing, according to Japanesepublic broadcaster NHK. The office of Mr. Ghosn’s lawyer, Motonari Otsuru, has declined tocomment.A Tokyo court has approved Mr. Ghosn’s detention through Monday. Prosecutors must decideby then whether to indict Mr. Ghosn over the suspicions they initially cited in arresting him orrelease him. They could restart the detention clock by citing different suspicions as a basis todetain Mr. Ghosn.At the time of his arrest, Mr. Ghosn, as chairman of Nissan, was considered the ultimatedecision maker at the company. Mr. Saikawa has said that Mr. Ghosn had too much powerwithin Nissan and its alliance with French car maker Renault SA . Mr. Ghosn is chief executiveand chairman of Renault, which owns a 43% stake in Nissan and has three board seats at theJapanese car maker.Frictions between Renault and Nissan have risen in recent years. Some executives at Nissan,the larger and more profitable of the two, have expressed concern about Renault’s influence onNissan’s business decisions.Within Nissan, tensions before Mr. Ghosn’s arrest involved not only the future of the alliancebut also Nissan’s own business struggles. Sales in the U.S. have declined year-over-year in six ofthe past eight months. Mr. Saikawa said Nissan needed to bolster U.S. profit margins, but initialefforts to get profits up by trimming spending on incentives caused sales to crater in April.In Japan, the company has recalled more than a million cars since discovering issues withinspections at Nissan’s factories more than a year ago, and the problems keep coming. OnFriday, Nissan said it found workers in Japan incorrectly tested parking brakes and steering onsome vehicles.When he stepped down as Nissan’s chief executive in 2017, Mr. Ghosn handpicked Mr. Saikawaas his successor, and he continued to support the Japanese executive in public. Behind closeddoors, the two clashed over Nissan’s problems, people familiar with their disputes said.Still, not everyone believed Mr. Saikawa’s job was in danger. One person familiar with therelationship between the men said their differences hadn’t reached a point where Mr. Ghosnwould have contemplated removing Mr. Saikawa.In Mr. Ghosn’s final years as Nissan chief executive, he pushed to reach an 8% share of globalauto sales and an 8% operating margin. The company missed both those targets.Mr. Ghosn believed that only the largest car makers would survive in a future of self-driving andelectric cars, and he said the alliance of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. shouldseek to sell 14 million cars by 2022, up from 10.6 million last year.“With the explosion of technology that is coming, it is going to make it very difficult for smallerplayers to follow,” Mr. Ghosn told The Wall Street Journal in September 2017.Two months later, Mr. Saikawa offered a different perspective at a news conference, sayingNissan’s efforts to expand volume were eating into profitability.“Of course, everyone wants to see how big the company will be eventually, but the mostimportant thing for a company is cash flow,” Mr. Saikawa said.Mr. Ghosn was an executive at Renault when the French auto maker took a big stake in Nissan in1999. Dispatched to Japan that year to fix Nissan, Mr. Ghosn executed a rapid turnaround. Foryears, Mr. Saikawa worked closely by his side helping Nissan reduce costs in its supply chain.When Mr. Saikawa’s appointment as chief executive was announced last year, Mr. Ghosn saidMr. Saikawa was a man he could “totally trust.”